Lesson from the pinecone

We look to the conifer and its logic of growth, and we learn from one of the truly great success stories of natural history. Through its adaptive strategy that has allowed it to survive over hundreds of millions of years, the patient and persistent conifer teaches us that it is far better to avoid direct, head-on competition for scarce resources and, instead, to pursue the roundabout path toward an intermediate step that leads to its eventual position of advantage.

-Mark Spitznagel